Knock, knock. Hoo's there?

Mr. Owl joined us a few years ago, and has a hoot in his little box. We invited him to watch over the vineyards throughout the evening and keep the vermin population down. Occasionally we catch him in flight, and spot his massive wing span against the backdrop of the twilight sky. He feasts on those pesky ground squirrels, gophers and moles - the same pests that ruin your home garden. A vineyard is just a massive garden after all.

My brother Alan has been carefully tending to the vines, which are just starting to wake up from their deep winter hibernation. We've got fuzzy little bumps on the vine canes, which were pruned down to a few inches at the end of January. Budbreak is coming very very soon. Right now they're just soaking up the delicious composting material we applied, and enjoying the warm Spring weather that has graced us this past week, with summer-like temperatures.

All the excitement is really happening inside the cellar, with Alan and Delia finalizing the blends for our 2009 DARE by Viader Cabernet Franc, which can't be bottled soon enough to meet the demand! We also racked the 2009 VIADER Proprietary Red Blend (Cab/Cab Franc) to clean out any sediment from the barrels. Our mother-son winemaking team is closely watching the development of our 2009 vintage, and are super pleased with the results. Bottling may occur sometime in the summer, if not post-harvest. TBD!

Warm regards,

Janet Viader, sales & marketing at VIADER